Awkward Kisses
by xLabyrinthine
Summary: Vincent and Cid share an awkward moment on the Highwind. Read warnings inside!


Warnings: Love between men, kisses, curses and blood.

My notes: A very awkward story that was delightfully fun to write. Pairing is Vincent and Cid.

* * *

It sure felt good to be back on the Highwind. Vincent sighed in relief as he closed the door to his cabin - finally silence and solitude. It had been a trying day. First, Yuffie's and Cid's argument in the morning about something so stupid Vincent hadn't even bothered remember the trigger of the fight. They yelled until they were both red in the face, and only ended when Cid needed a smoke to calm his nerves before he had a heart attack, and Yuffie stumbled to the side to throw up her breakfast thanks to her motion sickness. What a wonderful start of the day. Vincent had huddled up in his usual corner of the bridge, content to be left alone. Cloud had made his way over to Vincent to brief him on the day's plans, before leaving the brooding man alone. Vincent liked Cloud; he never pushed or forced himself onto others. He was also a good leader, despite his own baggage and quietness.

The group which was on a mission to pursue Sephiroth was however in a desperate need of gil at the moment. They should be doing important things, but no, they had been forced to spend the day slaying monster after monster for things to sell. At first, Vincent had been slightly irritated at the delay, but then he remembered. These people actually needed to eat, unlike him. And they needed fuel for the Highwind, because they couldn't fly. Well, Vincent could, but the rest...

He sighed again, and began stripping. First, he removed his holster and placed Death Penalty and his other hidden gun on the bed-side table, near his resting place and ready to be used. Then he carelessly removed the headband and threw it on the bed, before unbuckling the front of his cloak. He shrugged it off and tossed it beside the headband. Vincent stopped to consider his metal claw for a while. Should he keep it or remove it? He shrugged. He needed at bath anyway. Once the claw had been removed and joined the other things on the bed he removed his shirt, pants and underwear, leaving him stark naked. Vincent was more than a little glad for his privacy, being the only one beside their captain to have his very own room on the ship. Cid had been strangely abashed in his crudeness when he had led Vincent to the room, muttering something about that he thought he would appreciate it before bolting off before Vincent could properly thank him. Huh, what was that about anyway?

Vincent had just turned around to head to the bathroom to clean off the grime of the day from his body as the door was slammed open. Reacting on pure instinct, he swirled around and let out a hiss. Cid was standing in the door, a fallen teacup on the floor in front of him, obviously dropped. Neither moved as they sized each other up in silence, Cid staring with half open mouth and Vincent crouched on the floor like a wild animal. Letting his demonic instincts guide him once more in his stunned state, Vincent let out another hiss before bolting into the bathroom and locking the door behind him. Imminently, he felt ashamed. Oh, what had he done? He had hissed, like a demented beast, at Cid. Cranky, but with a heart of gold, Cid. He should go back out imminently and apologize, get down on his knees and beg for the pilot's forgiveness, but his shame and embarrassment didn't let him. Cid who had treated him so well, with so much humanity, more than Vincent deserved…

The shower cleansed him of some of his worst shame, the warm water soothing his weary body. He stayed in there for really long, longer than he usually did. Once he stepped out, he realized he had a problem. Vincent dropped his head with a low groan. All the clothes were in the bedroom, not in here.

"Damn." he whispered lowly to himself. Well, logically, Cid should be long gone. So what was the problem? More confident now, Vincent wrapped a towel around his slim waist and stepped outside.

Cid was still there, on his knees next to the stain on the floor from the dropped tea, scrubbing it with a damp towel. He didn't seem to notice Vincent's arrival from the bathroom, something which the black-haired man intended on using to his advantage. Vincent sneaked quietly and gathered up his sleeping clothes (bought by the girls) from their place at a chair beside the bed.

But as he sneaked back across the room to lock himself into the safety of the bathroom again, he almost stepped on the now empty tea cup. Seeing it was one of Cid's nicest ones, Vincent obviously tried not to step on it. But, well, avoiding stepping on something while trying to move quietly and trying to keep the towel from slipping from your not very shapely hips while balancing a bunch of clothes proved to be too much even for Vincent's demon-enhancements. To his great horror, he fell face down on the floor right behind Cid. His nose broke the fall... and that was not something positive.

"The fuck? Vincent?" He heard Cid said with a baffled voice. Vincent just gave a muffled moan of pain, damn his nose hurt, before sitting up. Once again, they stared at each other in silence. Then Cid picked up the towel which Vincent had accidentally dropped in his fall and pressed it against Vincent's nose. Only then did Vincent realize it was bleeding, and accepted the towel with a muttered thanks. There was more silence. Very painful, awkward silence.

"So..." Cid said and twiddled his thumbs. "Nice weather today, huh?" Vincent stared at him with unbelieving eyes. He was naked with a bleeding nose, sitting on the floor with his friend and Cid commented the weather. Which had been horrible, by the way. Cid let out an embarrassed sound, and then they both fell silent once more.

"Look, Vince." Cid said. "I'm going keep this brief, since neither of us is good with words, okay?" Vincent nodded, and Cid seemed content and continued. "You see, I came here with the tea because there was something I wished to discuss with you. I always feel more at ease with tea, you know? And I thought you might appreciate it with the rainy weather and all. I know you don't get sick or shit like that, but I thought you might like it anyway, you know, getting warm and..."

Vincent stared at the rambling man. Was he even aware that he was babbling non-stop, and reaching no point at all in his long speech? Suddenly, Vincent was overcome with a strange sort of affection for the crass and work-hardened, yet passionate and kind-hearted, man. Vincent then did something which he very seldom let himself do since the awakening - he let his feelings guide him.

Before he could think twice his lips met with Cid's chapped ones. The kiss was brief and awkward - and still, it was perfect. Because it was theirs. It was **their** awkward kiss, and when Cid fumbled to wrap his arms around the still naked Vincent, it was **their **awkward embrace. And it was their awkward silence that followed.

"So, I..." Cid said eventually, but Vincent cut him off.

"Keep it brief, remember?" Vincent reminded him.

"Uh, right. Well... If I'm to keep it short, then I guess..." he said but faltered when he saw Vincent's raised eyebrow. His tone softened. "Then I guess I have only three words to say to you, Vincent Valentine. I love you."

It was so sincere. It was so... heartfelt. No games, like those Lucrecia liked to play. No ploys, no playing. Just a hard-working, honest man confessing what he felt. An honest man with blood on his face from pressing it against Vincent's bloodied nose. And with eager, sky-blue eyes awaiting an answer. However, for a brief second, Vincent doubted. He had been hurt before, he could be hurt again by loved ones and...

"Do not be a fool." Chaos spoke in his mind, his usual, confident voice low and serious. "Do not throw this away."

And that was all the pushing Vincent needed. "I like you, too." he said, before correcting himself before Cid could falter. "I love you. I... love you." he said, as if testing the words.

Cid's face lit up, like if you had thrown a match on gasoline. And as if sudden overcome with a surge of emotion, he embraced Vincent even tighter, pressing the lighter male against his chest. Only, having had your nose smashed against the floor did hurt, and having it forcefully pressed against something hard hurt even more. The result? Vincent bled even more, staining Cid's blue shirt a sickly red. But he didn't try to get free. He didn't want to. Vincent was more than a little content where he was at the moment. And he felt... safe. It was a nice change for once.

And then the magic was broken. The door was thrown open, and there stood Tifa and Barret. "Hey, Vincent, have you seen Cid? Dinner is-" And as they was the scene before them, Tifa shrieked and Barret made a baffled sound. It was rather understandable, since they were sitting, arms wrapped around each other, both bloody and Vincent stark naked.

"What are you doing?" Tifa shrieked. "Cid, did you **HIT **Vincent?" she suddenly accused when she noticed the blood came from his nose, making Cid splutter curses - something that really didn't help his cause. Vincent was a bit miffed they assumed that it was Cid who is abusive, when he was so much stronger. Vincent managed to free himself somewhat from Cid's crushing grip to pull his cape and wrap it around them both (since Cid seemed so reluctant to let go).

"There is a completely logical explanation for this." he said calmly, making all of them turn to him after spluttering accusations, and in Cid's case curses, at each other.

"Yeah?" Tifa said, unimpressed. "Then I would like to hear it."

Vincent fell silent. It's not like he had expected her to just nod and leave, but what would he say now? Even Cid looked at him and seemed honestly interested in an explanation of what had just happened between them.

"I... was undressing to shower." he began, hesitating slightly. "Then Cid opened the door and I tripped..."

"You tripped?" Barret said with the same unimpressed voice that Tifa had used earlier. "You?"

"Yes!" Vincent said, feeling slightly defensive at the looks he got. "I tripped over the tea cup Cid dropped!" No need to tell them he hissed and fled like a wild thing before that. "I hit my nose which started bleeding. I kissed Cid while he tried to confess his feelings, which is why he got blood on his face. Then we talked for a bit, he hugged me which is why he got blood on his shirt. Then, you walked in and started to accuse him of being abusive." Vincent ended his long tirade with a scalding look at the pair. "Now, **please**, leave."

Tifa and Barret stood there for a few moments, silent and motionless. Then Tifa sighed lowly and threw Vincent one of the team's Cure-materias. "You should fix your nose." she said tiredly. "It looks a bit... off."

Vincent accepted the materia with a nod and a pointed look. The pair at the door hesitated for a few more seconds, and shot looks at Cid, before leaving and closing the door behind them.

Silence.

"Well... What a day." Cid commented. "We're sitting on the floor and have just confessed to each other, you're naked and have a bashed nose which is bleeding all over the place. And our friends think I abuse you. You should really fix your nose by the way; your nose is so lovely and straight it would be such a shame to let it get ruined and..."

Vincent rolled his eyes. Cid was rambling. Again. Ignoring the man and his own aching and bleeding nose, Vincent grabbed Cid by his soiled shirt and pressed their lips together in another kiss. Only, this wasn't as brief as before, even if it was as awkward.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad day after all.


End file.
